Weird Behavior

I didn't show up for my shift at the bar- I tried to call, but the number I had was no longer in service. Yes, I just made an excuse for a "no call- no show." I can hardly believe that I did it, but the thought of setting foot in that bar to work from 7pm to 430am just made me crazy. I couldn't do it and it is so out of character for me to not care that I put people out. Okay, I care. Obviously. I am writing about it...
But, the only person that can truly take care of me is me. It is for the best. A few things I realized from my two weeks working two jobs in a Ten on Tuesday- Wednesday Edition:
1. 180 hours of work in two weeks is possible, but beyond exhausting.
2. I was spoiled at Serendipity when it came to money.
3. People (particularly those between the ages of 21 and 35) do awful things to their bodies between the hours of 7pm and 4am.
4. I now know what a car bomb is and I never want to try it.
5. When you cocktail waitress you can get away with saying things you could never say in a restaurant, including calling a guy a f%^#ing a%#hole. It's amazing what happens when you don't sleep and someone makes fun of you.
6. The people who stay at the bar until closing are usually the strangest people. I've been one of them, and I'm gonna try not to be ever again.
7. I met a guy that was an Afghanistan war veteran. He is bi-polar (a diagnosis he told me he was given) and an alcoholic. Through a few hours waiting on this guy I can see how men (and women) who fight wars end up homeless.
8. Lack of sleep heightens your emotions (all of them, in fact- even ones you thought you were incapable of feeling).
9. Trying to pretend that you aren't working all night long(bar job) and then coming into work(day job) with bloodshot eyes doesn't work. There are only so many times that you can say you have something in your eyes.
10. Paying for your health insurance with a second job is silly if it compromises the health you are attempting to insure.

Flashback Friday...uhhh... Sunday

So I've been thinking a lot about singing lately. I know you're thinking, of course, Jodi, you must think about singing all the time. I don't. I used to. But I don't. Now if I think about singing it is more like what 16 or 32 bars do I want to sing for this audition or that audition. Or, Oh god, I have to sing a new song for class (by the way I am starting class again tomorrow and I took a fabulous master class with Victoria Clark today- more later). Anyway, because I want to put together a cabaret, I have been thinking about a time that I sang for fun and enjoyed every moment of it. Hence, the flashback:
I used to sing everything from, "Please pass the butter" to "I have to pee!" But the singing I remember most was at night in the bedroom that I shared with my sister, Jenny. We would be laying in our single beds and instead of saying our prayers we would sing the Lord's Prayer the way they taught it to us at the hippie Catholic church we would sometimes go to when we missed Mass at our church. We were always late to Mass. Dad always said that if we made it before Communion we would be forgiven. Jenny and I loved to sing it together. I think it sometimes annoyed our brothers and our mom, so we would just sing it louder. Jenny was my favorite singing partner...

Whew!- The Longest Week Ever!

I am exhausted. I'll give you a brief rundown of my week and then you'll understand why I haven't written in a week. And in perfect exhausted fashion, I will write my "Flashback Friday," tomorrow (Saturday).
Week in Review....
Monday: Went to work at the studio from 10am to 6pm.
Went to Astoria to start my first night of training at the Pub I told you about (late shift 7pm-430am)
Tuesday:Took a gypsy cab home from the bar ($14).
Slept for three hours.
Drank far too much coffee.
Went to work at the studio from 10am-6pm.
Went to Astoria to start my second night of training (7am-430am)
Wednesday: Took an off duty yellow cab home from the bar ($14- he couldn't turn on the meter because he was off duty so I just paid him what I paid the guy the night before).
Slept for three hours.
Drank even more coffee (Did I mention that I had hoped to cut down on my caffeine consumption for the New Year?)
Went to work at the studio from 10am-6pm.
If I drank coffee, I don't remember- I am amazed that I was functioning so well. The body is an amazing thing, even when you abuse it.
Went to Astoria for my third night of training (7pm-5am- I had to cash out on my own so it took a little while longer and there was this jokey girl** at the bar until 420am so I had to stay a bit longer).
Thursday: Took a yellow cab home (I was his first fare of the day. It only cost 9.50, so I tipped extra and realized I would negotiate better the next time I get in a gypsy cab).
Slept for 5 hours- I went into work late
Worked at the studio from 1pm-11pm
Came home and hung out with Mere (she thinks she found an apartment, we have our fingers crossed!)
Friday: Slept for 6 1/2 hours.
Worked at the studio.
Went to the gym for my Fluidity class (It is sooooo awesome, I feel every muscle in my butt and thighs!)
Met my friend Jenn out for cocktails and dinner.
Home!- blogging and about to pass out!

** True story- The bar is on Ditmars between 36th and 37th street (my first apartment in NYC was on 37th, across the street). The last person in the bar was this jokey blond girl eating a salad she brought from somewhere else and drinking a water (to be fair, she had had a beer previously, but it was 415am and she was just drinking water). I was bitter. Tired and Bitter. We couldn't count money until she was gone. The bartender informs her of this fact and
She says: Oh my gawd! I am SOOOO soooorryyy! I need to call a car.
Bartender: Where do you live?
Girl (while scrolling her I-phone for the number): Nearby, but I DO NOT walk home alone. Bartender: J^%# will walk you home, but I'll have to get him.
Girl: (Earnestly) Give me the number here and I will walk home. If I don't call in ten minutes, walk down 37th street to see if I'm being abducted.
Bartender (While walking her to the door to let her out): Okay, ten minutes.

NO JOKE, the phone rang two minutes later- the girl lived in MY OLD building and she was going to call a car service to take her 400 feet across the street. RIDICULOUS!!!! on so many levels. There isn't a safer neighborhood in this city. I used to walk home after taking the train home at all hours of the morning.

Neti Pot Anyone?

So, just pretending I was healthy didn't work. As I said a while back I was diagnosed with a deviated septum and put on a medicinal regimen that just wasn't economically feasible. The ENT Doc wanted me to use two sprays of Nasonex in each nostril every morning and to take Mucinex D everyday. Well, the Nasonex is a name brand prescription and with insurance (thank God I have it) is $30. One bottle lasted just under a month. Now the Mucinex is what hurts. It, of course, is over the counter and about $30 a box for 36 tablets which last 18 days. Oh, and it happens to be one of those drugs that make you feel like a felon to buy. Yeah, that's just what I need someone knocking on my door to confront me about my cold medicine purchases (By the way, does someone have the awful data entry task of logging all those purchases or is this one of those things that's supposed to really make us feel safer rather than actually getting the meth labs closed? I mean, really, the log you have to sign seems a bit outdated for 2008). Back to the rant at hand: so, the total for all the drugs I was prescribed was just under $90 a month. Needless to say, not only for the previously mentioned reason, but also because what person in the world wants to take medicine everyday regardless of whether they are having any symptoms (I had a hard enough time getting on a schedule for taking birth control and the consequences of messing that up are far greater), I didn't do what the doctor recommended and here I am with a cold, which will invariably turn into a sinus infection, needing to head to the drug store where I will have to sign my name and address to purchase some Sudafed. This brings me to my question for all of you out there (really, I'll take any advice, but I'd prefer to hear from those suffering from a deviated septum). Have you used a Neti Pot? and if so, would you recommend it? Evidently, Oprah has, but I'm not willing to go with it on her recommendation alone.

A Cold

It's 60 degrees outside and I have a yucky cold... I read once that if you are feeling sick it sometimes helps to pretend that you are not. I tried that for about 10 minutes today, but I couldn't get over wanting to go back to bed. I think I might try again. I'll let you know how that goes...

The Midwest Rocks!

Mere is looking for an apartment. Yesterday I had to take down the Christmas decorations because the tree was dead- yes, I know, the tree was dead when we bought it considering it had been chopped down already and for God knows how long (you never can get a straight answer from tree salesman- they seem to be as shady as (or more than!) car salesmen). Anyway, we had been watering it and it was no longer drinking- it had given up and its needles were falling down like rain. Luckily it was a slow drizzle rather than a tsunami, but either way it was time to get her out. And, as I am a bit crazy, I couldn't just put her on the street to be picked up, but I made Mere walk with me and the tree 7 blocks away to be mulched. I also did not buy a tree bag this year because they don't work and they are plastic. So, after we did our small part for Mother Earth (and yes, it may actually be better for Her to buy a real tree for lots of reasons, but I won't bore you with them...) we went to Astoria to the Broker who helped me find my apartment. All I can say is Liz is one of the most "New York-y" people I have ever met and she is hysterical- a bit crazy, but it's enjoyable without being scary. Anyway, another girl (Tamar) was there looking for an apartment around the same price range so we all piled into the car and went looking at about 5 apartments. Turns out she is from Detroit (yeah, Midwest!) and she was tons of fun. We laughed a lot and got to know one another and after the outing was over we went to an old hangout called McCann's. It is across the street from the first apartment I ever had in NYC and also the place I won a trip to Ireland from (found out they no longer do that). We all had a fabulous time together drinking, eating, and applying for cocktail waitress positions. Mere didn't, but Tamar and I did and we also were interviewed. It may be the perfect extra job if it works out- it would only be two nights a week. They would be long, 7pm to 4am, but they would help in the quest to afford my health insurance (I won't go into it because it makes me want to cry, but a healthy 30 year old who takes care of herself and has no major illnesses shouldn't be this expensive to cover. And that's all I'll say about that!) After leaving the bar and heading to the train we exchanged numbers and vowed to get together again. It was one of those New York moments that make living here so awesome!

New Years Resolution

I have been reading Eat Pray Love and I can't put it down. And for the times that I have had to put it down, I have been using the most adorable picture of my nephews as my bookmark. And when I pick up the book and begin reading I am greeted by their smiling faces and the reminder of what love looks like. Anyway, I try not to make silly resolutions, so it tends to be a hope for the year. So, this year I am going to be fearless. I refuse to not do something because I am afraid of the word NO. And then I realized while sitting on the train how completely silly a New Year's Resolution is. January 1 is an arbitrary date in our lives, no more important or meaningful than any other day of the year has the potential to be. I will live each moment as if it has the importance of being the first day. And it does. Days are like snowflakes, there is not one that repeats. No matter how monotonous days sometimes feel they are always different, always unique, always the first in which the experiences of the day unwrap themselves into each moment. I plan to get wrapped up in that uniqueness, see through the eyes of a child, and truly live. I want to laugh and smile with utter abandon, and feel more deeply because I understand...